Mechanical intervention for reducing dust concentration in traditional rice mills

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health and Safety
• Environmental Engineering
• Agricultural Processing

Background:

• Workers in traditional rice mills face significant exposure to airborne dust.
• High dust levels pose health risks, particularly respiratory issues.
• Existing dust control measures may be insufficient in these settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an effective dust collection system for traditional rice mills.
• To mitigate worker exposure to airborne dust in major dust-generating zones.
• To reduce overall and respirable dust concentrations to recommended safety limits.

Main Methods:

• Designed and implemented a dust collection system targeting feeding and sieving sections.
• Utilized a blower to create an air stream with a minimum speed of 0.5 m/s.
• Collected captured dust using a cyclone dust collector.

Main Results:

• The developed system effectively captured a significant amount of airborne dust.
• Overall dust concentration was reduced by up to 58%.
• Respirable dust concentration was lowered to below 5 mg/m³, meeting safety standards.

Conclusions:

• The implemented dust collection system is effective in reducing dust exposure in rice mills.
• This intervention significantly improves the occupational health environment for mill workers.
• The system provides a viable solution for controlling dust in agricultural processing environments.